Many called parties wish to identify callers before speaking to the callers to allow the called parties to make an informed decision regarding whether to accept the calls or take other appropriate action. For example, a called party within a business or other organizational setting, home setting, or any other suitable setting might elect to accept a call, disconnect a call, or route a call to another suitable person or processing device according to the identity of the caller.
As telecommunications services continue to become more advanced to serve various needs, called parties may desire to identify callers using a variety of techniques. A known technique for identifying a caller includes receiving a telephone number associated with an incoming call and comparing the number with previously stored information to identify the caller associated with the incoming call. Such techniques are unsatisfactory if the caller is calling from a telephone, extension, or location having a telephone number different than the number that corresponds to the stored information. Other techniques may even compare a spoken word or phrase identifying the caller with a stored voice print to verify an identification made through a personal interaction with the caller or through digit or voice recognition of a personal identification number (PIN), account number, or other identifier.
Although these techniques may be acceptable to verify the identity of a caller that has already been identified, these techniques do not identify an unidentified caller out of a universe of known callers. Furthermore, techniques that require a personal interaction with the caller to generate information for comparison with stored information are often relatively inefficient and costly. Requiring the caller to provide a PIN, account number, or other number is similarly cumbersome from the perspective of the caller. Moreover, such techniques do not provide the called party with real-time control over the call prior to accepting the call or provide the called party with information to allow the called party to make an informed decision regarding whether to accept the call, transfer the call, disconnect the call, or route the call in some other manner. These and other problems make previous techniques for identifying callers inadequate for many applications.